DOWN UNDER

Originally posted 05/07/2008 05:55:22

Hello everyone

I pray that you have peace in your heart at this time. It has been a very interesting last couple of weeks with a lot of traveling. I set off for Australia via singapore and this was to be for me the longest flight I had ever taken (almost thirteen hours) and because I'm quite big and I've got a bad leg I asked God for a seat with a bit more space, after trying to book an exit seat online but it not being possible. Sure enough at the airport the airline moved me to the most spacious seat I've seen.

God really does care about the little things if we entrust them to him. Whilst flying I was reflecting back on how nine or ten years ago I was terrified of flying and even though I used to do it, it was always an ordeal. The issue had been control, I didn't like the idea of the pilot having my life life in his hands. But as the years passed and Gods grace worked on me in this area he slowly showed me the reasons for my controlling and brought healing to those roots of fear, and of course the reality is that God is in control of every situation if we will hand them over to him. For me it's a miracle that I can actually enjoy a flight and that is the freedom that Jesus wants to bring to every area of our lives.

Singapore is a very busy city with many people working twelve or more hours per day. Me and my friend Niall were walking back to our hotel after dinner one night and in front of us was a man in his late fifties with a girl who was at most seventeen years of age. He made it clear to us that the girl was a prostitute and to him just someone to be used, he said to us "You can take her if you want"

The girl was beautiful and I had incredible sadness in my heart that she should be treated this way. All I could do was pray that she might know that love above all loves. I remember a few years ago whilst I was living in The Bronx in New York, I was passing through a red light district when one of the young women who worked the streets came up to me and asked for a cigarette. I started to tell her the story of a girl who was searching for love, the first boy she had fallen for, she had sex with him because she thought that was the price she had to pay to earn his love, but after this he dumped her and it felt like her heart had been ripped apart. with the next guy it was the same story and this happened again and again until eventually she thought she was worthless and ended up selling her body on the streets to survive from day to day.

But one day she met a man who seemed to look right into her soul and loved her for who she was and didn't want anything from her. So she fell to her knees and washed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. That girl was St Mary Magdelene and the man was Jesus. When I said this the the woman began to cry and said "please pray for me" I handed her a Miraculous medal and promised her that I would. It just reminded me how important and how powerful it is to pray for those caught in this trap (men as well as Women) that God would show them how precious they are to him and lead them to a better way.

After arriving in Australia the first week has been filled with many media interviews including Sky news and various others and it's obvious the World Youth Day down under is going to be incredibly powerful.

For those of you who can come I'd really encourage you to, but if not your prayers would be a great blessing. Here are just a few of the events I will be speaking at. Mon 16th July Sydney university 6.00pm, Wed 16th July State theatre 3.00pm, Thurs 17th July Sydney convention and exhibition centre 8.00pm, Fri 18th July Receive the Power live Barangaroo Darling Harbour 7.00pm, Sat 19th July World Youth Day vigil Randwick race course 3.45pm. Please God over the next few days we are going to see miracles and I'm just very thankful to be here.

Be assured of my prayers for you and those you love.
John

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